More In Your Life

Father of four has plenty to live for, strive for

Photo by Daniel Freel/New Jersey Herald - Brian Garland decided to join this year’s weight-loss challenge because he wants to continue to be there for his kids. Garland is the father of quadruplets, Sean, left, Brian, top, Paige, and Kevin, not pictured.

HOPATCONG — Brian Garland has four good reasons for participating in this year's "Lighten Up" fitness challenge, and their names are Brian Jr., Kevin, Paige, and Sean.

Since losing his wife Donna to cancer four years ago, the 50-year-old father of four has been raising his three sons and daughter whom he loves dearly all on his own. Today his kids -- all quadruplets -- are 15 years old, and he wants to continue being there for them as long as he can.

"It's been a tough road, but you have to go on," said Garland, a resident of Hopatcong. "I've tried real hard to be as strong for my kids as I can because if they see me down, then they'll be down. But since my wife got sick and passed away, I've just been packing on the pounds. So many times I've been on my way home and would just pick up some fast food. It really wasn't a healthy meal situation."

Garland is one of the eight participants in the New Jersey Herald's 2013 "Lighten Up" weight-loss challenge.

Garland, who will be working out at RDA Fitness in Byram, said his greatest challenge is likely to be in the area of time management. An auto mechanic by trade, he puts in long hours, beginning with making sure his kids are up and ready for school before 7 a.m. And with a household to run and dinner to serve his four kids every evening, Garland's day no longer ends when he comes home, as was formerly the case before his wife passed away.

"Fortunately I have an understanding boss," he said. Still, Garland is under no illusion about the commitment of time his training will entail.

As a Boy Scout leader, Garland also has spent considerable time camping with his boys and joining them on hikes. "I used to love doing all that with them, but after a while, I started to be the guy who would have to stay back at camp -- stuff like that," he said. "With the shape I'm in now, I can't go backpacking with them or anything anymore, which I'd like to do."

That's when Garland began to realize that, with all he'd been doing for others, he also needed to take better care of himself -- for them and for him. But it was because of two good friends that he finally was moved to do something about it.

As Garland tells it, it all hit home last spring when he saw the transformation in his friend, Scott Capwell, who had just completed last year's "Lighten Up" fitness challenge.

"Scott's son and my kids run together, and it was one of those things where once the fall season ends, we don't usually see each other till the spring," Garland said. "Then when I saw his transformation, I said to myself, ‘Oh, my God.'"

Capwell, by his own account, had also once been quite active until life and time and the demands of balancing work and family responsibilities got in the way. But if Capwell, at 48, could pick himself up out of the rut he'd been in, why not Garland?

As Garland tells it, a second friend finally convinced him to take the next step. "It just came to where I realized my kids are going to need me, and me being unhealthy and fat isn't good for them or for me," he said. "I want to do my best to be around for them a long time."

Rob Austin, owner of RDA Fitness, sees nothing to keep Garland from replicating the success enjoyed by Capwell last year. In the beginning, Austin said, he hopes to have Garland working out at his gym twice a day several times a week doing a combination of cardio, resistance conditioning, and some flexibility training.

But even on days when he can't make it to the gym, movement of some sort -- whether in the form of brisk walking, climbing the stairs, or other physical activity -- will be key. Austin's advice, simply stated: "Try and be active in some way and move! We have to see what his limitations are and then go from there."

The other component of Garland's transformation will involve designing a suitable meal plan. By his own admission, Garland's greatest food weakness involves bread of any kind. But before coming up with a long-range plan, Austin first wants to get a better sense of Austin's current caloric intake and the foods that contribute to those calories.

"I plan to have Brian track his diet for me in his first week," Austin said. "This log should give me a good idea of what direction to guide him in from there."

At 5 feet 10 inches and 315 pounds, Garland has a weight loss goal in mind but doesn't want to say what it is just yet. But his benchmark fitness standard dates back to when his children were first born. That, he said, was probably when he was in the best shape of his life. "There was a lot of running around back then," Garland said with a chuckle.

In the meantime, just as he has been there for them, Garland said his four children are now an invaluable source of support for him. "Especially my daughter Paige," he said. "She said, ‘Dad, we can do this and we can do that and maybe run the track a little bit.'"

An added payoff from his improved fitness also just might come from making his work a little easier. "It's not easy for a big guy to get underneath a dashboard or climb onto an engine," he said.